The Tobin Project gathered twelve scholars on October 11th and 12th for a meeting on the development and evolution of the antimonopoly movement in the United States and the role it has played in American democracy. Participants discussed the political and economic factors that have motivated antimonopoly efforts in the past and sought to evaluate whether and how these efforts achieved their goals, as well as whether these efforts produced unforeseen consequences that presented new challenges.

On September 26th and 27th, the Tobin Project convened nine graduate students for a workshop on the History of American Democracy. Participants joined Tobin staff and alumni of previous workshops to share their research projects, give feedback on each other’s work, and consider the potential impact of their topics, which included:

- The effect of administrative burden on political participation

- Economic voter intimidation and workplace democracy in the late-nineteenth century

On July 15th and 16th, the Tobin Project held a meeting of our working group on the History of American Democracy. Organized by Tobin’s Institutions of Democracy initiative, this effort seeks to develop research on the factors that contribute to the strength and vibrancy of American democracy and how democratic institutions have functioned and evolved over time.

On April 26th and 27th, the Tobin Project hosted a Conference on Inequality and Decision Making, convening forty-seven scholars of psychology, sociology, economics, and other fields to investigate the impacts of high and/or rising economic inequality on individuals’ behavior. By studying how inequality affects individuals’ behavior and decision making, we hope to gain insight into some of the mechanisms through which inequality may have large-scale economic, social, and political outcomes.

On February 8th and 9th, the Tobin Project’s Institutions of Democracy initiative held a meeting as part of our ongoing work on When Democracy Breaks. This project seeks to explore past moments of democratic crisis and identify the factors that led to the erosion of important institutions, norms, and values in each case. By investigating eleven historical and contemporary episodes of democratic decline, we hope to gain a better understanding of why democracies falter and, in turn, how we can sustain a robust democracy over time.

The 2018 Update includes developments throughout our research areas, featuring articles on When Democracy Breaks, the Prize for Exemplary Work on Inequality and Decision Making, and Reassessing Threat Assessment. Download it here or read it below.

The Tobin Project is pleased to announce that the 2018 Prize for Exemplary Work on Inequality and Decision Making has been awarded to Orestes Patterson Hastings (Assistant Professor of Sociology, Colorado State University) and Daniel Schneider (Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of California, Berkeley).